Al Batt: Things to look for while awaiting spring

Published by rkramer@bluffco... on Mon, 03/09/2020 - 12:52pm

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AL BATT

Bluff Country Reader

My neighbor Crandall stops by.

"How are you doing?" I ask.

"Everything is nearly copacetic. I'm still waiting to see if my morning coffee intake uses its powers for good or evil. I used to be married until she got smart and dumped me. We never fought. I guess I did, but she never fought back."

"How did she control her anger?" I say.

"She cleaned the toilet."

"How did that help?" I ask.

"She used my toothbrush."

Naturally

A tufted titmouse, which fortunately for me had decided to spend the winter in our yard, has fit in well. It even participates in the mobbing of accipiters. I listened to it as it joined chickadees, nuthatches, and blue jays in a verbal assault on a raptor. The birds had mob connections. When smaller birds join forces to ward off larger or predatory birds, it’s called mobbing. The sounds call in the cavalry. Tufted titmice produce fussy, scolding call notes and, when predators are spotted, a harsh distress call that warns others of the danger.

A friend sent me a video of a squirrel burying the blueberries she'd tossed outside. The squirrel was burying the berries in the snow. It was caching food in a refrigerator that would melt. Seems to be a foolish endeavor, but who am I to judge the behavior of a squirrel or anyone else?

Q&A

"Do crows migrate?" Some do. American crows are commonly observed during the winter in the southern two-thirds of the state but are rare in the north. You might notice crows carrying sticks and nesting materials at this time of the year.

"Should bluebird nest boxes face a certain direction?" Research done by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology revealed eastern bluebirds will nest in boxes facing in any direction. In Minnesota and other northern states, nest boxes facing in easterly directions fledged more young on average than boxes facing other directions. This suggests a benefit to east-facing boxes at northern latitudes, where night temperatures tend to be colder. This benefit couldn't be detected in the south.

"Why do birds stand on one leg?" A foot tucked into belly feathers reduces the amount of heat a bird loses through unfeathered limbs. A bird sometimes alternates feet to minimize heat loss and conserve energy. A bird might tuck its beak under its shoulder feathers for warmth and to lessen heat loss.

"Are most spruce trees named Bruce?" Yes.

"What percent of a bag of black-oil sunflower seeds is made up of shells?" The hulls make up 35 to 45 percent of the weight.

"Why are they called cedar waxwings?" The elegant birds were named cedar waxwings because of their strong attraction to the red cedar tree (a juniper) with its blue fruits and due to the bright red on the wing feathers that is waxy red secretions.

"Do bluebirds mate for life?" Sialis.org says, "The answer is probably maybe sometimes." Bluebirds form pair-bonds during the breeding season and are generally socially monogamous — a single male and female form a basic social unit. A study of eastern bluebirds indicated about 95 percent of the time, nestings involved one male and one female.

Things to look for and think about while awaiting spring

1. Maple sap flow is triggered by thawing days followed by freezing nights.

2. Chipmunks are out and about.

3. Migrating Canada geese arrive.

4. Marcescent (withered, but persistent) leaves drop from red oak and ironwood trees.

5. Wild turkeys have started their spring courtship with the toms gobbling, flaring tails, and strutting.

6. The bulk of the noisy, male robins tend to follow the 37-degree average daily isotherm as they move northward. There is a wide variation among individuals, but that temperature means food is available. An isotherm is a line drawn on a map linking places having the same temperature. A customer of this column told me when a robin is sighted near a house, it foretells good fortune for the inhabitants of the house. We should all be lucky folks.

7. House finches sing long, jumbled warbling songs of short notes, which often end with an upward or downward slur, as if the bird was either asking a question or had forgotten its song.

8. Our timepieces spring ahead on March 8. Meteorological spring begins on March 1 and astronomical spring starts on March 19.

Driving by Bruce's drive

I have a wonderful neighbor, named Bruce. Whenever I pass his drive, thoughts occur to me, such as: It was springlike in the house, but winter was being an unwelcome companion outdoors. An icy driveway brightens my day like a total eclipse. There was so much ice, I considered getting a polar bear. I decided against it as I'd have to build a polar bear house and I doubt I'd get around to finishing it. It's as the sign on the wall of the cafe read: "We never finish anyth."

There isn’t an off-season for family and friends.

I attended a game in which a group of polite hecklers were bothering an opponent shooting a free throw. "It's not just a boulder, it's a rock," they yelled.

Not long after that my granddaughter, Joey Batt, splashed a three-pointer to help Minnesota State win a game and the courtside announcer proclaimed, "A JB3!" Joey was one of five members of the all-freshmen team for the 16-team NSIC.

I paid my respects to a basketball-playing friend not long ago. I did so by bringing a sympathy card that was too big for its envelope, expressing condolences, hugging, and sharing stories about the deceased. Larry Pence of Albert Lea had been my basketball and softball teammate. I watched Larry play basketball in high school. I was a few years younger and was charged with the task of keeping a shot chart. I was given an official school clipboard and an official school pencil. The Coach gave me the usual advice, "You can lead a horse to water but a pencil must be lead." He'd learned a lot from watching Laurel & Hardy films. The shot chart was made up of letter-sized paper displaying an approximation of a basketball court. Anytime a player shot, I'd jot down the player's number on the paper reflecting the spot on the floor where the attempt occurred. If the shot was made, I circled the number. If the shot was missed, no circling was required. I don't know how I got the job. The responsible students must have been out sick. I kidded Larry that I didn't have to sharpen the official school pencil once during his games because I never needed to circle his shots. That was far from the truth. He was a fine player and a fine friend.

Nature notes

The blue jays were talkative. Mark Twain wrote, “You never saw a blue jay get stuck for a word. He is a vocabularized geyser.”

A snowplow grumbled by. It sounded tired. I was happy to see it. February was cold, but its warm sunlight melted snow. It had given itself plenty of snow to melt. “Light tomorrow with today!” said Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

Freed from home by the snowplow’s good work, I drove around entertaining my camera. Most of the miles were on rural roads — some gravel and some hard surface. The snow gave a soft wind visibility. I saw more bald eagles than cows. How times have changed. You could say I drove the wrong roads, but it’s what I saw.

I saw a few pheasants. The loss of food due to a persistent cover of snow and/or ice is a killer. Waste grain, an important food source, becomes unavailable under a deep accumulation of snow. I read once that 300 kernels of corn per day maintains a pheasant’s weight. Captive pheasants have been able to survive several weeks without food, but they don’t expend energy avoiding predators and staying warm. A healthy wild pheasant could go three days without food. The annual survival rate of ring-necked pheasants is around 50 percent. Hens are more likely to succumb to starvation than roosters as the females enter winter in poor condition due to the high energy demands of nesting and rearing chicks. Strong winds can sometimes be beneficial to pheasants as they might free feeding areas of snow. Another problem for pheasants is the lack of suitable winter cover.

Meeting adjourned

"Kind words are like honey — sweet to the soul and healthy for the body." — Proverbs

Do good.

AL BATT/BLUFF COUNTRY READER Trumpeter swans in a heated discussion not involving the presidential primary.

Seen at The Archway in Kearney, Nebraska. The pioneers had arduous journeys. And I find a flat tire painful.

Seen at Bethany Lutheran College in Mankato, Minnesota.